What
is it?
Geocaching is a leisure
activity in which participants use a global positioning
system (GPS) mobile device to locate a hidden ‘cache’. The
cache is usually a physical container concealed somewhere
in the landscape. Participants are given a starting
location (a car park or other easily identifiable spot) and
then use the GPS coordinates to guide them to the cache.
Geocaching involves exercise and getting about outdoors.
Details of the geocaches nearest your chosen location can
be found by going to one of the geocaching websites, such
as Geocaching.com
,and entering a
zip or post code. The nearest geocaches display on the
screen along with the distance they are from the zip or
post code you entered. You click on a geocache listing
to display information about how difficult the terrain
is, what type of cache it is, what the location is like
and the GPS coordinates. Having chosen a cache, you load
the GPS coordinates into your device, print out the
description and head for the start location.
There are different types of cache. A traditional cache is
a container of some sort that holds a selection of objects
or tokens and a log book for people to sign and date when
they discover the geocache. The container can be large, for
example an old ammunition box, or small, for example a
plastic food container or jam jar. Other cache types
include multi-caches, puzzle caches, virtual caches and
earth caches. Geocaching.com has a comprehensive
description
of the different
types of cache.
Tokens in geocaches are generally inexpensive trinkets. You
may take away a token provided you replace it with
something of equal or greater value. Some tokens have
specific properties. Travel-bugs
have their own
web page and come with instructions; for example, to
visit as many coastal caches as possible, collecting
stories on the way. Geocoins are another trackable
token.